Tweet

Choosing Our Poison or Choosing to Let Go

Guest post by: Jim Clemmer

Article Overview: I am running late for an important appointment and speeding down a two-lane highway. Suddenly I come up behind a garbage truck lumbering along well below the speed limit. The highway is full of oncoming traffic, curves, and hills so I can't pass. If I start to get angry, pound the steering wheel, and really work myself into lather about this, who is in control of my emotions at this point - a garbage truck or me?

Choosing Our Poison or Choosing to Let Go

"The sword of attack is always held backwards. We think we're holding the handle, swinging our blade at the world. In truth, though, we're gripping the blade and waving about a harmless handle. The harder we fight, the deeper we cut ourselves." - Dan Cavicchio, Gardens from the Sand: A Story About Looking for Answers and Finding Miracles I am running late for an important appointment and speeding down a two-lane highway. Suddenly I come up behind a garbage truck lumbering along well below the speed limit. The highway is full of oncoming traffic, curves, and hills so I can't pass. If I start to get angry, pound the steering wheel, and really work myself into lather about this, who is in control of my emotions at this point - a garbage truck or me?

Another milestone in our growth is when we accept responsibility for our emotions. We chose to lose our temper. We chose to become jealous. We chose to harbor hatred. It's much easier to give in to the Victimitis Virus. It's less painful to believe that anger, jealousy, or bitterness are somebody else's fault or beyond our control. But that makes us prisoners of our destructive emotions. We hold grudges, let old resentments build up, and become cynical. We stress ourselves out. We stew in our own deadly juices.

Holding on to destructive emotions is slow suicide. Studies are showing that stress from negative emotions present a more dangerous risk factor for cancer and heart disease than smoking cigarettes or eating high cholesterol foods. Physicians who had the highest scores on a test of hostility while still in medical school were seven times as likely to have died by the age of fifty as were those with low hostility scores. People who had been rated as easily roused to anger were three times more likely to die of cardiac arrest than those who were more even-tempered. If they also had high cholesterol levels, the added risk from anger was five times higher. Reflecting on the mounting evidence on the deadly effect of destructive emotions, researcher and author Daniel Goleman writes, "an occasional display of hostility is not dangerous to health; the problem arises when hostility becomes so constant as to define an antagonistic personal style - one marked by repeated feelings of mistrust and cynicism and the propensity to snide comments and put-downs, as well as more obvious bouts of temper and rage."

For our own health and happiness, we must exercise our choice to let go. No matter how long we nurse a grudge, it won't get better. When we bury the hatchet, we need to make sure we don't keep a shovel handy. Life is too short - and likely to get even shorter - if like vultures, we feed on dead issues. We need to forgive and truly forget. Forgiveness is not for them, it's for me.

Related Articles
  How To Choose Best Network Marketing Company!~ ONLINE SUCCESS SECRET
  CAN TWO SALESPEOPLE REALLY BE THAT DIFFERENT?
  Choosing Powerfully.
  Strategic Branding
  Top 5 Parameters to choose the right Freelance Copywriter
  What Counts Most
  What NOT to Choose as a Domain Name for Your Business
  Marketing Strategies - Banner Advertising and How to Choose Your Placements
  3 Tips to Choosing the Right Affiliate Marketing Products
  Best Internet Business Lesson 1 - Target Your Market
  Mistakes Clients Make When Choosing an Agency
  Selling to Hostile Franchise Buyers is Never a Good Idea
  Choosing the Mortgage Term That’s Right for You – Helpful Hints
  Displaying your canvas artwork
  Top Three Common Mistakes to Avoid when Choosing a Nurse Staffing Payroll Factoring Company
  Choosing and Claiming It!
  Maximizing Differentiation Opportunities
  Web Domain Name
  Declaring an Authentic Market Niche
  Choosing the right payroll vendor

Article Tags: business, leadership
Referred by: http://www.searchengineworkshops.com



Related Forum Posts
Re: Bad SEO techniques? - [quote="jacksonp":1y3g8bot]that is quite true.We all should avoid these kind of techniques.I am here sharing few more points which we should take in mind..As an experienced person of SEO I want to share here some facts which should be avoided by us.I hope that these will help some of the newcomers a lot.. Choosing a title that has no relation to the content on the page Using extremely lengthy titles that are unhelpful to users Using a single title tag across all of your site’s pages or a large group of pages Stuffing unneeded keywords in your title tags Writing description meta tag that has no relation to the content on the page Multiple domains Multiple identical sites Cross Linking[/quote:1y3g8bot] re: Cross Linking, how do you define that? I thought linking to other pages on your website (that are related) was a good thing...maybe that's not what you meant.
Creating Your Advisory Board - Part 1 Steps 1 & 2 - Thanks Kevin, I will go through each step in detail, starting with this post. 1) determine the objective of your advisory board. Why do you want an advisory board? to generate better ideas, open up new markets, launch new products? brainstorming, problem solving, fiduciary duties etc? Whatever you need from your board, be very clear in presenting what you want to accomplish by building this team. A good advisory board can be general in scope or targeted on specific markets. know how often you want to run meetings and set agendas appropriately. 2) Choosing the Right People once you are clear in what you want to accomplish it will be substantially easier to find the right people. Consider this a full time recruiting process to begin with. Start with your dream list of advisors. Perhaps you want to launch a new junk removal service, wouldnt it be great to have the CEO of 1-800 Got junk? start there. determine the areas of expertise that you need to recruit. Big names can be a bonus but not always. Find people who are going to be able to give you the time you need. People who will be honest, open and free with their ideas, resources and connections. You will want problem solvers with diverse skills, expertise and experience. If you need help approaching people, email me and I will give you some direct assistance. Until next issue, items 3 & 4 Jude
Avoid Franchise Mistakes - I Came across these 7 tips for helping you avoid costly mistakes when buying a franchise & thought they would be helpful... It takes a lot of money to build a business, and you certainly don't want to waste any. Check this list of 7 costly mistakes to avoid. 1. Letting emotions rule. Falling in love with a franchise concept is a common mistake. Don't let your emotions guide your decisions. Use your head, do your due diligence and take the time to thoroughly investigate the franchisor's offering. 2. No professional team. Don't try to do your own financials, contract reviews, or negotiating. The cost of professional franchise attorneys, accountants, and advisors is money well spent. 3. Too little cash. Lack of capital is the number one reason franchisees fail. Item 7 in the UFOC will tell you how much money you'll need with a low and high range. Be smart-go with the high range. Then ask current franchisees if the numbers are high enough. 4. Penny wise and pound foolish. Choosing one franchise over another because the initial franchisee fees are lower is shortsighted. It assumes that all franchises are alike and nothing could be further from the truth. Choose the franchise with the proven concept and strongest track record. 5. Too much help. Payroll is the biggest part of overhead for most franchise businesses. New franchisees often hire too many people or pay too much in wages. A good franchisor will provide a good staffing plan. Stick to the plan. 6. No comparison. Never buy expensive equipment, supplies or inventory without shopping around first. Even if your franchisor offers group purchasing, do your own research, shop as many vendors as you can, consider aftermarket suppliers, and weigh different financing options (loans or leases). 7. Marketing blunders. As a new business owner, you're going to be targeted by every ad salesperson around. Ignore them. Follow your franchisor's marketing plan to the letter to avoid wasting thousands.
Re: Avoid Franchise Mistakes - [quote="BizLoanz4u":311o7qo8]I Came across these 7 tips for helping you avoid costly mistakes when buying a franchise & thought they would be helpful... It takes a lot of money to build a business, and you certainly don't want to waste any. Check this list of 7 costly mistakes to avoid. 1. Letting emotions rule. Falling in love with a franchise concept is a common mistake. Don't let your emotions guide your decisions. Use your head, do your due diligence and take the time to thoroughly investigate the franchisor's offering. 2. No professional team. Don't try to do your own financials, contract reviews, or negotiating. The cost of professional franchise attorneys, accountants, and advisors is money well spent. 3. Too little cash. Lack of capital is the number one reason franchisees fail. Item 7 in the UFOC will tell you how much money you'll need with a low and high range. Be smart-go with the high range. Then ask current franchisees if the numbers are high enough. 4. Penny wise and pound foolish. Choosing one franchise over another because the initial franchisee fees are lower is shortsighted. It assumes that all franchises are alike and nothing could be further from the truth. Choose the franchise with the proven concept and strongest track record. 5. Too much help. Payroll is the biggest part of overhead for most franchise businesses. New franchisees often hire too many people or pay too much in wages. A good franchisor will provide a good staffing plan. Stick to the plan. 6. No comparison. Never buy expensive equipment, supplies or inventory without shopping around first. Even if your franchisor offers group purchasing, do your own research, shop as many vendors as you can, consider aftermarket suppliers, and weigh different financing options (loans or leases). 7. Marketing blunders. As a new business owner, you're going to be targeted by every ad salesperson around. Ignore them. Follow your franchisor's marketing plan to the letter to avoid wasting thousands.[/quote:311o7qo8] Sometimes, or most often financial stability is the most core problem. That's why, in business capital, investments is truly important to save to in every risk that can be possibly avoided.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

How to Conduct a B2B Marketing Content Audit

How do you keep it together on a daily basis?

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.